Our experts will be discussing Recruiting and Retaining skilled staff; and enabling Mentally Healthy workplaces. These are both vital topics for many businesses across our area.

We will be joined by:

Kristal McNamara, Director, Flexology

Come along, join the discussion and find out more. Book your ticket here.

SevernNet Business Breakfast’s are an opportunity to meet and collaborate with local businesses and stakeholders. There is plenty of time to network and a 30 second slot to introduce yourself and your business. Refreshments and light breakfast are provided.
Come along, join the discussion and find out more.

Please note that Business Breakfasts are free to attend for SevernNet members. Non-members may attend two Business Breakfasts before joining. There is more information about Membership and a Membership Form here.

About Flexology
Kristal and her business partner have a background in Senior Management roles in Business. When looking for a new challenge they realised there’s a huge lack of options for those that want flexibility, with less than 1 in 10 roles advertised in this way. The research they completed showed a huge demand for flexible working from candidates, therefore they launched Flexology. They help clients close their skill and talent gaps, finding talented professionals, who are looked for full and part time roles, offered with flexibility.

Megan and David Coombes from SfL will be presenting conclusions from their research of the Skills Needs and Challenges across the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area (ASEA). Focused on the Logistics and Distribution Sector, the work is being undertaken in co-operation with S. Glos. Council, Business West and SevernNet.

As the number of vacancies grow and the numbers looking for work shrink this skills challenge will increasingly impact every business across the area. What measures can we take to address this?

A distinctive new truck is collecting food waste and creating a buzz on the streets of Bristol.

The Bio-Bee is the UK’s first vehicle to both collect and run on commercial food waste and is operated by GENeco, the renewable energy company based in Avonmouth.

With Bristol among 40 places in the UK that consistently exceeds air quality limits for nitrogen dioxide, the Bio-Bee demonstrates a real alternative to diesel RCVs and HGVs by running on clean biomethane.

It also offers a cost-effective and more sustainable way for food waste to be collected and recycled, and it follows in the footsteps of the Bio-Bus – or ‘poo bus’ – which ran on human waste and was trialled in Bristol in 2015.

Boston Tea Party and St Monica Trust care homes are among the first companies to use the service, and it is hoped the Bio-Bee will increase food waste recycling levels in the city.

Charlotte Stamper, project manager at GENeco, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer customers a UK first – collecting their food waste using a vehicle running from their food waste.

“This clean fuel helps to improve Bristol’s air quality and creates a sustainable circular economy for the client’s operations.

“Bees are renowned for the good work they do for the environment, and their daily routine involves collecting valuable natural resources and then bringing them back to a hive to make renewable and nutritious products.

“The Bio-Bee operates the same way. It runs on biomethane that has been produced by the anaerobic digestion of food waste and sewage from houses in Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area.

“In turn, its total carbon footprint is around 90% lower than a diesel equivalent and it is quieter than standard diesel models.

“The Bio-Bee is also intended to be fun and engage youngsters in the topics of food waste, recycling and air quality.”

A video about the Bio-Bee is available to view here.

Waste

Every year each person in the UK throws away enough food to power the Bio-Bee for 25 miles.

If Bristol recycled all the food waste generated by the city’s residents in a year the Bio-Bee could run every day until the year 3,000.

Food waste is collected in the Bio-Bee and brought back to GENeco’s anaerobic digestion plant in Bristol. The waste is depackaged – and plastic is removed – and is then used to produce sustainable electricity for homes and communities.

The remaining food waste undergoes a pasteurisation process before being fed into the anaerobic digesters, where micro-organisms break down the waste in the absence of oxygen and produce methane-rich biogas.

This biogas is either used to produce renewable electricity or it is converted in our gas-to-grid plant to enriched biomethane, which is injected into the gas grid. At this stage it can be used as fuel in the Bio-Bee and other vehicles or to supply local homes.

The solid by-product of the anaerobic digestion process is used as a nutrient-rich and sustainable biofertiliser for farms.

Jesse Scharf, Green Gas Certification Scheme manager at Renewable Energy Assurance, said: “GENeco is playing an important role in the growing UK biomethane industry by continuing to innovate and show that, with creative thinking, we can find solutions to the challenges we face around waste, energy, carbon and air quality.”

Shelley Wadey, finance director at Boston Tea Party, has been working with GENeco on the Bio-Bee project from the start.

She said: “Although we have been recycling our food waste from our six Bristol cafes for three years through GENeco, this is another step forward to make things better by generating a sustainable circular economy.

“Through this partnership we hope to inspire other food operators to follow our lead, demonstrating it is possible to be greener and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.”

Colleagues, friends and family from across the SevernNet Area are once again getting together in The Black Peak Challenge. The last event raised £12,500 for charitable causes, and was supported by a number of local businesses.

If you’re interested in getting involved check out the information here, download the poster here or email Phil Radford at [email protected]

Those who have taken part in this challenge before have said that it was the best thing that they did all year. We need to book the breakfast and mountain rescue, so do join in as soon as you can.

Family and friends are encouraged, (15 years and over.)

The shorter route (11 miles climbing to 720 meters) is stunning and tough but achievable. (See below) The longer route (18 miles reaching the highest point in the Black Mountain 811 meters) is only for the very fit and is a tough challenge. You can decide on the day which you are taking on.

You can travel up on the day, (meet at SAH car park to lift share) or stay in the campsite, or in one of the great pubs.

We are hoping to raise funds for the desperate people of East Africa by supporting the Disasters Emergency Committee. (Although local youth organisations are encouraged to use the event to raise money for their clubs also.)

All participants amazingly raised over the target £100 last time, (We raised an astounding £12,500 in total.) This time we have made it even easier to join in, lowering the target per person to £50!

So a great day out is on offer; amazing views, great bacon breakfast and great welsh pub at the end, not to mention doing something really important and rewarding.

Thanks go to the Bristol Port Company who have once again donated funds to get this up and running and Southmead Scouts for their expertise and support.

Last March, Etex Building Performance (Siniat) received an email from the BBC asking us if they would be interested in helping them with a project they were doing just across the Severn. Scott Stronach “We jumped at the chance before we even read the story of the Fairlie family from Monmouth.”

“We donated all the plasterboard and compounds for the job and, with the help of our logistics partners at Wincanton, we delivered to site on one of our smaller lorries.”

That has been the first of many projects they’ve been able to help with.

Scott: “We’ve supplied the materials for the Children In Need 2016 project in Blackpool, the Help for Heroes 2016 project in Manchester and in March this year, we donated the materials for a project in Hartcliffe in Bristol.”

This last image is the Fairlie family with one of our Customer Service Department colleagues, Nicola Gostlin at the Big Reveal.

Locally based business Nisbets (Catering equipment supplier), has been awarded a highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, for International Trade. Originally formed in Bristol in 1983, Nisbets trades in 100 countries worldwide and has direct sales operations in 9 territories including Ireland, The Netherlands, France, Spain and Australia and 35 retail outlets around the world. Total export sales have grown by 205% since 2010.

Andrew Nisbet, Chairman and founder of Nisbets PLC, is delighted to receive such a prestigious award:
“To be awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise is a great honour and a huge tribute to the work of Nisbets colleagues worldwide. Our philosophy around the globe is exactly the same of that in the UK; to provide high quality equipment, at an affordable price, with next day delivery and exceptional customer service. As a result, Nisbets is a one-stop shop for catering professionals. I am extremely proud that we have been selected for this award, and pay tribute to the continuous hard work of the entire team.”

Nisbets is the UK’s largest supplier of catering equipment with over 25,000 products available from popular brands including Buffalo, Polar, Vogue, Waring and Chef Works. Customers can purchase via the website (www.nisbets.co.uk), the sales order line (0845 140 5555), or via one of their 25 retail outlets nationwide.

The award entitles Nisbets to use the Queen’s Award emblem for 5 years in recognition of their achievement. The award will formally be presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh later this year.